united all breed registry and pedigree service?

Question

Our dog is registered with united in the blue ribbon division. Anybody know anything about this service?

Answer 1

My Grandmother registered her new dog with them (also AKC) If she likes them enough to use them, they must be good. She's very particular about her babies and wouldn't use a service without checking it out first. Here's their website, if you don't already have it.
http://www.unitedregistry.com/index.asp

Answer 2

I don't, other than what I can see on the website. The most important thing I'm looking for is that they are selective about what dogs they will register, but it looks iffy. They imply that they require knowledge of pedigree to register your dog (good) but they say that they will accept dogs with no known pedigree if they are registered in another "acceptable registry" (bad -- they don't say what qualifies as an "acceptable registry" and furthermore, what is someone doing registering breeding stock if they don't know the dog's parentage?).

The real question here is what are YOU looking to get out of a registry? My bet is that your United-registered dog is from a pet shop. Pet shop dogs almost invariably come from puppy mills (and no, no pet shop in the universe will tell you that... they have other stories about where the dogs come from, but responsible breeders do not sell their dogs to strangers with checkbooks. Ever. Seriously.). Pet shops / puppy mills love using non-mainstream registries because they people feel like they're doing the right thing if their dog is "registered" but they don't have to go through the more stringent controls that are required by an established registry like AKC. The problem is that being "registered" doesn't mean diddly -- even if you have a pedigree for your dog, do you know how to read it, and can you tell what any of it means? One of my three dogs has a pedigree that's full of absolute garbage. Big whoop that I know who his ancestors are, because there is no record of anything that any of them have ever done, including health records. Structurally and health and temperment wise, I would have done better to get a rescue or shelter dog... but I have his pedigree! Yay!

If you didn't buy from a pet shop, and you bought from a breeder, ask them to explain to you why they chose to register with United. There's nothing I can see on their website that looks like a real purpose to registering with them. Why exactly would a breeder chose to spend extra dollars to register with them if they already register their dogs through a registry like AKC or UKC? I'm willing to imagine that a legitimate breeder could have a very good reason to do so, but if it were my pup, I'd want to have them explain that reason to me. It's pointless to spend a lot of money just to pay for a piece of paper that lists a dog's heritage, especially from an organization that will take dogs even if you don't know their heritage.

Sorry... I know this is a lot of negative stuff to hear when you already have a United-registered dog, but I hope it will be helpful to know. The important thing is that your dog is healthy and has a sound family temperament. If you've got those two things, then it does matter a whit what registry your dog is (or isn't) from.